Rachel Moeller, Joy Hanes, and Raegan Coupland showcased their self portraits in Daughtery Gallery.

ANNA BROUSSARD | COLLEGIAN 

 

Senior Joy Hanes had never created her own artwork until her freshman year. Last week, she presented 38 pieces in her senior art show.

“My parents took us to art museums growing up, and I always loved looking at art, but it was just something that felt so beyond me and so beyond my comfort zone,” Hanes said. “So when I was randomly placed in Drawing I, and I thought ‘I’ll just see what happens.’”

Hanes, and seniors Rachel Moeller, and Raegan Coupland opened their art portfolios this Friday, April 4 in the Daughtery Gallery.

Hanes said she named the exhibit “Putting the Pieces Together” because her time at Hillsdale has been a variety of lectures, projects, and moments.

“These are the little pieces that we as students receive and then have to put together in order to learn more of the full picture of what it is to make art and how we can do that with the most excellence,” Hanes said. “I also thought the title was a fun play on words because the exhibitions are not just one person but a group of seniors who all literally bring their art pieces together to make up the whole gallery.”

Hanes said Drawing I was challenging, but it ultimately set her on a path to her senior art show. 

“It was the first thing I ever experienced that, the more it frustrated me, the harder I wanted to push myself to work at it,” Hanes said. “So I took that as a sign, and it opened up a whole new world for me.” 

Hanes said she first and foremost wants her artwork to glorify God by painting the things she loves.

“I think of all the people that I love, the themes of childhood, nature, and my favorite places,” Hanes said. “My theme for oil paintings this year is home life, American life.”

According to Hanes, her work is meant to draw out the beauty in the mundane.

“I think that’s where the power of art really lies —  revealing those things that we forget to step back and appreciate,” Hanes said. 

Hanes said one of her favorite paintings displayed in the art show is of her sister-in-law flipping pancakes. 

“I was lucky and got a really good candid photo of her while we were chatting, and it ended up being one of my favorites to paint because of all the different textures and colors.”

Another of Hanes’ favorite paintings was her master copy of Andrew Wyeth’s “Cranberries.”

“That was the biggest watercolor that I did,” Hanes said. “I just love the original, and I’m pretty happy with how my painting turned out. That one also sort of goes with the theme of appreciating the beauty in the mundanity of a simple bucket of berries under windows.”

Coupland changed her major to art after a drawing class her sophomore year. 

“The class pushed me in all the ways I wanted to be pushed coming to Hillsdale,” Coupland said. “So I never stopped taking art classes.”

Coupland presented five mediums at her show: photography, sculpture, drawing, oil painting, and watercolor. 

One of her favorite works is an oil painting of the Bridge of Sighs in Oxford, England.

“When my family and I visited for a week, I knew I wanted to capture Oxford in one painting,” Coupland said. “That painting is the culmination of what I’ve learned as an art major and made me put all my skills to the test and push my boundaries with color.”

Coupland said she will miss the late nights in the art building with her peers.

“I love how I’ve just gotten to know my fellow art majors,” Coupland said. “We’ve all been on this journey together for the past few years, and now we’re all doing our shows together. The camaraderie of it is so wonderful and something I’ve come to appreciate so much.”

Moeller said she also started her career in painting late and on a whim.

“I signed up for a drawing class my sophomore year of college because I decided I wanted to give drawing one more try after a bad high school experience,” Moeller said. “But I almost dropped the class because I wasn’t sure I would like it.”

Moeller loved the class and said she fell in love immediately. 

“I really believe it was the hand of God,” Moeller said. “God wires every individual to be creative, but some people just have an impulse to create physical works of art.”

Moeller specialized in oil paintings, which were supplemented with a couple of graphite and charcoal drawings and watercolor paintings.

“I think each artist starts to find a medium that connects with them personally. When I went into my first oils class, something clicked,” Moeller said.

She said she primarily paints people she knows, and her paintings often revolve around people significant to her life, including her closest friends and housemates. Moeller’s favorite painting is one of her Latin professors. 

“Sometimes I pick people because I love their presence,” Moeller said.  

Moeller said she loves to see the detail in the little things in the world that often go unnoticed.

“I like to paint things like just a plain laundry room, which can be so beautiful, but we often just pass by everything we interact with regularly,” Moeller said.

Moeller explained how she has learned the meaning of art throughout her time at Hillsdale because of the title of the art show.

“Art is about putting together the pieces, the color, and temperature together in a way that says something new and original,” Moeller said. “An impression of the world that people can resonate with but they haven’t necessarily interacted with before.”